Food Quantity Prediction Using Machine Learning

Algorithms
Adithyan S, Amrith Dinesh, Ashwin M, Dr.S.Ramasamy
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Hindusthan Institute of Technology
Malumichampatti, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract— Food scarcity and hunger are the early and major The project titled "Food Quantity Prediction Using
problems that mankind had to face in their journey for existence, Machine Learning Algorithms" endeavors to explore the
every meal was fought and won. From fire to automated vehicle application of machine learning in predicting food quantities,
human beings had found a solution to almost all challenges that
particularly in the context of hostel mess management.
had come across their way. But world hunger still remains as an
insurmountable obstacle in their path. The basic need of a living
Through the development and implementation of predictive
being is to get nutritious food and water. According to UNICEF, models, the project aims to provide hostel administrators with
22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they die quietly a tool to make informed decisions regarding food procurement
in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the and provisioning.
scrutiny and the conscience of the world. The only answer is
ineffective resource distribution and management. According to
the United Nations Food Waste Index Report 2021, it may come II. PROBLEM STATEMENT
as a shock that 69 lakh kg of food is thrown away uneaten every Food Quantity Prediction using machine learning aims to
day in Mumbai. If we could accurately predict the amount of raw
materials and thereby the amount of food through everyday
develop a predictive model that accurately estimates the
analysis we can minimise the quantity of food waste drastically quantity of food required for a given number of individuals .
and thereby provide for the needy. The objective is to address the challenges of minimizing food
Supervised Machine Learning has lately proved to be wastage while ensuring adequate provisioning, by leveraging
one of the most prominent and efficiently improving methods machine learning algorithms to forecast the optimal amount of
comprising of several solid techniques and algorithms for the food needed based on various contextual factors such as the
classification, manipulation, and reorganization of databases number of guests, dietary preferences, historical consumption
using the concepts of recursive learning. We aim to predict the patterns, and other relevant variables.
amount of food and predict their qualities in domains like
. Hostel messes often struggle with accurately predicting
community kitchen, restaurant, school/collage mess and all of the
food industry by utilizing supervised machine learning. the demand for different food items, leading to either wastage
or shortages. Traditional methods of estimating food
quantities rely on manual calculations or simplistic heuristics,
I. INTRODUCTION which are prone to inaccuracies and do not account for
dynamic factors such as meal preferences, dietary restrictions,
In the contemporary era, efficient management of resources or seasonal variations.
is paramount, especially in contexts where food provisioning The goal of this project is to develop a predictive system
is concerned. Institutions such as hostel messes face the that leverages machine learning algorithms to forecast food
perennial challenge of accurately estimating food quantities to quantities with higher accuracy and efficiency. By analyzing
ensure optimal resource utilization while minimizing waste. historical consumption data, menu preferences, and contextual
Traditional methods of estimating food requirements often fall factors, the system aims to provide hostel mess administrators
short due to their reliance on manual assessments and with actionable insights and recommendations for optimizing
historical averages, which may not account for dynamic food procurement, meal planning, and resource allocation.
factors influencing food consumption patterns.
To address this challenge, the integration of machine
learning techniques offers a promising solution. By leveraging III. REGRESSION ANALYSIS
historical consumption data, menu preferences, and contextual
Regression analysis is a statistical method used to model
variables, machine learning algorithms can be trained to
the relationship between a dependent variable (in this case,
predict food quantities with a higher degree of accuracy. This
food quantity) and one or more independent variables (such as
not only aids in optimizing resource allocation but also
time of day, historical consumption patterns, weather
contributes to the reduction of food waste, thereby promoting
conditions, etc.). You could use techniques like linear
sustainability and cost-effectiveness.
regression, polynomial regression, or more advanced methods
like support vector regression (SVR) or random forest
regression. By training the model on historical data of food crop yields for effective agricultural planning; forecasting
consumption and relevant factors influencing it, you can food consumption trends for meal planning services or
predict future food quantities. catering businesses; estimating food requirements for disaster
relief efforts or humanitarian aid distribution; and predicting
energy consumption in food production processes to optimize
A. Structure resource usage and promote sustainability.
In regression analysis, the structure of the model defines
how the input variables (features) relate to the output variable
(food quantity). For instance, in linear regression, the structure
is represented by a linear equation where each input feature is
multiplied by a coefficient (weight) and then summed up to
predict the output. The structure essentially captures the
mathematical relationship between the input and output
variables.

B. Convolution Operation
While convolutional operations are not commonly used in
standard linear regression, they are integral in convolutional
neural networks (CNNs) typically used for tasks like image
recognition. However, in cases where your data is
multidimensional or sequential (such as time series data),
convolutional layers can be employed to extract relevant
features before feeding them into a regression model. This
helps in capturing spatial or temporal patterns in the data.

C. Training Process
Training a regression model involves optimizing its
parameters (weights) to minimize the difference between the
predicted food quantities and the actual quantities observed in
the training data. This process typically utilizes an
optimization algorithm like Gradient Descent. It begins with
initializing the model's parameters, followed by iteratively Fig. 1 Working of Regression analysis
computing predictions, calculating the loss (error),
propagating gradients backward through the network
(backpropagation), and updating the parameters to minimize IV. TIME SERIES FORCASTING
the loss. This iterative process continues until convergence or
until a predefined stopping criterion is met. Time series forecasting techniques are particularly useful
when dealing with data that varies over time, which is often
the case with food consumption data. Methods like ARIMA
D. Transfer Learning (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average), SARIMA
(Seasonal ARIMA), or more modern approaches like LSTM
Transfer learning entails leveraging knowledge gained from
(Long Short-Term Memory) networks in recurrent neural
one task to improve performance on a related task. In the
networks (RNNs) can be employed. These methods take into
context of regression analysis for food quantity prediction,
account the sequential nature of the data and its temporal
transfer learning might involve utilizing pre-trained models or
dependencies to predict future food quantities based on past
features learned from a related domain (e.g., time series
observations.
forecasting of a similar product). By initializing or fine-tuning
your regression model with this knowledge, you can enhance
its performance, especially when labeled data for training is A. Time Series Data Exploration
limited. This sub-topic involves exploring and understanding the
E. Applications characteristics of the time series data. It includes visualizing
the time series, identifying trends, seasonality, and any other
Regression analysis finds diverse applications in predicting
patterns or anomalies present in the data.
food quantities across various domains. These applications
include demand forecasting for optimizing inventory
management in restaurants, cafes, or grocery stores; predicting
B. Stationarity And Differencing
V. BLOCK DIAGRAM
Stationarity is an important concept in time series analysis.
This sub-topic covers techniques to check for stationarity in
the data and methods like differencing to make the series
stationary if necessary. Stationarity is crucial for many time
series forecasting models to produce accurate predictions.

C. Model Selection and Evaluation

Time series forecasting involves selecting appropriate
models that can capture the patterns in the data effectively.
This sub-topic includes discussing various models such as
ARIMA, SARIMA, Exponential Smoothing methods, and
machine learning-based models like LSTM and GRU.
Additionally, it covers evaluation metrics like Mean Absolute
Error (MAE), Mean Squared Error (MSE), and Root Mean
Squared Error (RMSE) to assess the performance of these
models.
D. Parameter Tuning and Model Validation
This sub-topic delves into the process of tuning the
parameters of time series forecasting models to optimize their
performance. It involves techniques like grid search or
random search for hyperparameter tuning and cross-validation
to validate the model's performance on unseen data.
Fig. 2 Block Diagram of Proposed system

E. Seasonality and Trend Analysis

Many time series data exhibit seasonal patterns and trends
VI. WEB APPLICATION
that need to be captured for accurate forecasting. This sub-
topic discusses methods to identify and model seasonality and The purpose of this report is to outline the methodology
trends in the data, such as seasonal decomposition techniques and findings of our project on food quantity prediction using
like STL (Seasonal and Trend decomposition using Loess) or machine learning algorithms. In this project, we aimed to
Fourier analysis. develop a predictive model to forecast food quantities
accurately, enabling better inventory management and waste
F. Forcasting Uncertainity reduction in the food industry.
Time series forecasting inherently involves uncertainty,
and it's essential to quantify this uncertainty to make informed
decisions. This sub-topic covers techniques like bootstrapping,
Monte Carlo simulations, or Bayesian approaches to estimate
uncertainty and calculate confidence intervals around the
forecasted values.

G. Advanced Topics and Applications

This sub-topic explores advanced concepts and applications
in time series forecasting. It may include topics like
multivariate time series forecasting, hierarchical forecasting,
anomaly detection, and forecasting in domains such as
finance, supply chain management, energy, and healthcare.

Fig. 3 GUI of Web App

 VII. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE ENHANCEMENT such as recurrent neural networks or long short-term memory
networks, to capture complex temporal dependencies in food.
The development and implementation of the Food Quantity
Prediction System for Hostel Messes represent a significant
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